Wednesday, November 6, 2013

The Power of IF

Yesterday I found myself in a facebook thread where a man I didn’t know questioned my declarations about praying for our country. He retorted with a mocking comment, “If there is a God…” While I continued my conversation and shared scriptures that diminished his claims that God doesn’t care about our country or our leaders, afterwards I began to ponder his initial question that started it all. “If..”

What if there isn’t a God? That’s a very common question asked by many non-believers, and a good one at that! But an even better question non-believers should ask themselves is, “What if there IS a God?!”

I’m a firm believer that science solidifies God’s existence. I’ve seen and read evidence that proves the bible to be accurate and historically true. Yet many non-believers want to use this notion that we believe in fairytales. How can we believe in something we don’t see? And yet, these same naysayers believe in science fiction stories that are much more far fetched than an Almighty, omnipotent God—stories they too never saw or witnessed. Every evolution theory is just that: a theory. There is no solid evidence to verify their points, and even so, their stories change every few years. Their fact-finding proof is often debunked a few short years after their claims…by the very people who insisted it was an absolute, undeniable, undefeatable truth.

God’s story, however, never changes. God Himself does not change. In fact, we keep finding data and clues that testify the Bible can be held accountable as absolute fact.

But let’s get back to the question at hand: What if there isn’t a God? I would challenge those who use this inquiry as their foundation to not believe to instead consider the consequences of not looking at this differently.

If there is no God, and you spent your entire life believing there is, when you die, what have you lost? What did you give up? If you chose to live for Christ, ministering to others and giving the gift of hope to the hopeless, what damage was done? They won’t know the difference once they’re dead and gone. All they would have had was a much better life of peace and freedom, instead of strife and turmoil. What would they have given up in turn? They would have given up the world’s views of who they were. They would have given up the notion that there was no meaning to this life at all, and instead found that their meaning went beyond themselves. They would have given up lifestyles that were demoralizing and detrimental to their well being. They would have given up destructive behaviors that would have diminished their families and crushed all their relationships.

Now when I say, “give up,” anyone who has given their life to Christ knows full well that we don’t need to “give up” anything, we just need to surrender to Him who will deliver us from those self-destructive choices. He instead fills us with His Holy Spirit who guides us to better choices and lifestyles that uplift instead of tear down. He offers us a life no longer full of regrets and disappointments, but of healing and redemption. He gives our pain and suffering meaning.

So the real questions non-believers should then ask is, “What if there IS a God? What if I have lived this life doubting because of this big IF, and when I die I find out God is absolutely real and I blew it?” How will you stand before God and justify your decisions when people have shared the truth with you and provided you with evidence?

What if there is life after death? You may not have lost much during your physical life on earth as a non-believer, but you will lose EVERYTHING in the glorious afterlife! It is literally a choice between Heaven and Hell. And despite how the world glamorizes hell, it won’t be a fun party place of sex, drugs and rock and roll, where all the cool people end up. No, it’s a place of darkness, torture and pure evil. Jesus tells us in Matthew 13:42, “[The Son of Man’s messengers] will throw all that wickedness into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” That doesn’t sound very fun to me.

In this lifetime is your only opportunity to choose Jesus, NOT afterwards. God won’t offer you a chance to believe Him once you see Him face to face. Jesus told his disciples after He had risen and revealed Himself alive again: “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are all those who never see Me and yet they still believe.”(John 20:29 NLT/the Voice).

There is power in the question, “If…”, but only if it’s the right “if” question. Challenge yourself not to ask, “What if there isn’t a God?”, and instead ponder, “What if there IS a God?”

God tells us that if we draw near to Him, He will in turn draw near to us. He also promises that if we seek Him with our whole heart, we will find Him (James 4:8 and Jeremiah 29:13). Those are promises that millions of people throughout countless generations have experienced firsthand. There’s a reason faith in Jesus Christ has carried on throughout the millenniums. It’s because so many people have literally been transformed and changed by His redeeming power simply by asking and believing.

4 comments:

My short and sweet response is you are totally on target. I have had this discussion with many. If someone is truly living as Christ intends us and working towards being that person then they have spread love, kindness, and charity in their wake. However if you don't believe and live for our Lord Jesus then someday when you do die you will be in for a really sucky rude awakening...